Using the Camera for Interpretation - Aisyah

     I chose to analyse the opening clip of Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run. The reason why I chose this particular video is because I really like its cinematography — the movie as a whole experiments with the conventional film form and is still effective in conveying a narrative scene.

     The video starts off with a Medium Close-Up Shot of Manni in the telephone booth, then cuts to a Full Shot/Long Shot of a clock and then back to Manni's Medium Close-Up. It then cuts to a Medium Close-Up of a credit card/phone booth card then to a Close-Up of Manni with a shallow depth of field. The choice of moving the camera's placement from a Medium Close-Up to a Close-Up shot, as well as changing the camera's depth of field to a shallower one, portrays the stress that Manni feels when he realises his phone call got cut off. His frustration is further emphasised when the camera placement moves to a bird's-eye-view shot of him, creating a confined and claustrophobic space.
     The movie then cuts to Lola's apartment and we see the camera dollying/zooming in on the television, on Lola's face and then on her clock. The pace of the camera movement is quick, portraying Lola's worry for Manni. We also get a lot of jump cuts, particularly the leap-frogging cuts. This kind of jump cut creates a jittery/jumpy effect, which adds to the worry and stress that Lola feels. Just like the scene in the telephone booth, the scene in Lola's apartment is also shot in a shallow depth of field. At around 0:43, we can see that there is a wipe transition. I believe that this was used to show Lola's mental shift from worry to reasoning. The camera is then on a Medium Close-Up Shot of Lola and rotates around her in a fast-motion effect while she thinks about who to turn to for help/advice. As she lists the names, we get fast cuts of the people's faces she names, portraying her train of thought. The camera movement gradually slows down as she narrows down the names, until it lands on her face in a straight-on frontal angle. We then get a match-on cut of her father's face (the person she eventually decides to seek help from), and as she leaves the shot we get another match-on cut of her father's face frowning and shaking his head. This makes it look like her father is in the same room as her and is interacting/responding to her actions. However, this is not the case — Lola's dad is not in the same space as she is, therefore this again is supposed to show her thoughts. She could be thinking about how disappointed her father might be when he finds out about the trouble she has been in.
     As Lola runs out of her apartment, the camera follows her by panning across the apartment's hallway and into her landlord's/neighbour's apartment (the movie uses both types of pan shots: dollying and tracking). After the camera pans across the hallway and into the neighbour's apartment, it rotates around the neighbour herself. This whole scene is shot in one take (also called a "long take"), and then the camera dollies into the neighbour's TV screen and we get a cartoon animation of Lola running down the stairs. 

Using the Camera for Interpretation - Christian Cieri

The section on how to use the camera for interpretation is one that seems to be almost common sense while reading it, but a thing of complexities when put into effect. The different camera angles and techniques that go into a film are often taken for granted but we never truly realize how difficult it is to put together these shots into a film until we are tasked with it. While a trained director can tell how things are supposed to look on screen inattentively, to an amateur director, these techniques are incredible difficult to implement in their projects, and can quickly become a daunting task. 

Even if they manage to perform these great camera elements, an audience might not even notice them. While watching a movie, an audience doesn’t necessarily pick up on different things that the camera is doing unless one is actively searching for it. Instead, they get immersed in the world and it might not be until after the film has ended that they realize that is was the camera’s movements and the cinematography that shaped the film they saw. This is because we as an audience are almost conditioned to expect certain shots and angle from a film, and it’s only when cinematography is bad that we notice what the camera is doing. 

One video which I found that I thought really implemented a lot of unique camera techniques was the video by YouTube Jack Harries, known as JacksGap. In this video, entitled “Following Heart - The Shark Conservationist”, the story of a shark conservationist is told, and how she reaches out to teach about sharks to children and hopes to change the social stigmas against sharks. The video itself uses a lot of different techniques, such as shifting the focus in a shot, to different types of shots being used, such as wide shots, medium shots, close ups, and extreme close up of the subjects on the screen. While the subject matter of the video is incredible, I believe that the actual cinematography is some of Jack’s best works.

Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yw8tPkmSDA

The actual video begins around 2:20.

camera movement in do the right thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ4y7GPeFBY

I chose to analyze one of the Radio Raheem scenes in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, particularly because he is a good example of a character that is associated with specific camera angles and movements.

The above scene begins with a medium shot of some of the neighborhood kids, followed by another medium shot. When Radio Raheem enters the pizzeria, however, the camera angle dramatically changes to a canted shot. A dolly shot is also used here. When paired with the song, “Fight the Power,” which is coming from Radio Raheem’s boom box, this canted angle suggests chaos, which of course foreshadows the chaos that will ensue around Radio Raheem at the end of the film. The dolly shot, because it moves from a medium shot to a medium long shot, depicts him as an intimidating person by making him appear larger and taller. It also allows him to walk towards the camera, which is an intimidating motion. The remainder of the yelling and fighting (and the music playing) is done with this canted shot. As the two opposing sides scream at each other, they are filmed in a medium close up shot. There are also a few high angle shots of some of the more sympathetic characters, such as Vito whom we know doesn’t want his father to fight with the blank kids. Perhaps this high angle shot is a way of suggesting he is somehow above them. While Radio Raheem and Sal are physically fighting, there is a close up shot of a photograph of two boxers, which is a clear reflection of the fight going on in the pizzeria. There is an over the shoulder, low angle shot when Radio Raheem is choking Sal, which clearly shows that Radio Raheem is in control at this moment. 

Using the Camera for Interpretation - Lauren

The video I chose to interpret in terms of camera techniques is Ke$ha’s music video for her song “Blow” which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFWX0hWCbng

(Just a forewarning for those who have not watched this video yet, it is my favorite music video solely because it is weird and wild from start to finish).

The video starts with Ke$ha talking to two unicorns; as we can see the chairs are angled toward each other and the frame exhibits a wide shot, even though the lighting effects force the viewer to focus on her upper body as if it was a medium shot.  For a majority of the video, Ke$ha’s dancing and singing is captured using a medium or close up shot, emphasizing her “sexiness”, especially when there are extreme close ups of specific body parts.  When Ke$ha isn’t dancing and is seducing the man across the room, many of these frames are medium shots since we never really see Ke$ha or the man’s lower half; the camera is occasionally tilted slightly up to produce the idea that these characters are superior and confident.  In the middle of the video when the two are talking, the camera uses a frontal angle as well as an over the shoulder angle to show a good mix between the unicorns in the background and the actual conversation that is occurring.  Finally, much of the fight scene consists of medium shots with a long focal length, and the dying unicorns are shown with the same frame and focal length, but with an angle tilted upward, emphasizing the dramatic collapse of the unicorns.       

One of the big factors that made the video the way it is aesthetically is due to the lighting effects, which the article doesn’t talk about.  While lighting in the music video will not be commented on, it is important to note that the lighting plays a huge role in the aesthetics.   

cat's sound project

https://soundcloud.com/user673971190/final

ALenhert Sound Project

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Onnolee's Sound Project

Onnolee's Sound Project.